Nature paparazzi

Remember the blah rainy weather that tried to take down sister fun weekend?  Well, more of the same last Saturday, which put a slight damper (ha, damper...sorry about that) on my brilliant plan to take the new toy out for a spin and capture some fall foliage images.  You know, since I currently live in a place where there are actual trees, not just mile after mile of wide open space...which is certainly beautiful in its own right - have you ever seen a West Texas sunset?  Beautimous - to your right, please see irresponsibly snapped picture from my moving vehicle on the drive home last Christmas.  Remember the closing scene of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" where they ride off into the sunset?  First of all, if that's a spoiler, I don't know if I can be your friend, and more on point, it was filmed at Palo Duro Canyon.  How cool is that??  Ok, back to the fall foliage adventures...

Fortunately, Sunday dawned (actually dawned!) with bright sunny skies and brisk fall temperatures, so I took advantage of the weather to embark on an outing in Rock Creek Park, one of the first national parks.  When it was founded in 1890, the 1,600 acres were on the edge of D.C., and of course it's long since been surrounded by city and now serves as a big slice of nature right here amidst the concrete of D.C.  Now, I'm not exactly what you might call an "outdoorsy" sort of gal.  This, courtesy of someecards, is my usual take on outdoorsy activities:

I don't know if it was the beautiful fall weather or the excitement over the new camera or what, but I really embraced the outdoor adventure last Sunday.  I mean, we're talking actual hiking here, people.  Not scary hiking or rock climbing (I take that back - I did climb two rocks...both of which required precisely three steps to conquer...but they still count), but definitely some inclines and water moments and exertion.  

Just a couple of things to remember when embarking on hiking/slightly strenuous walking adventures:

1. 
   
   If you're planning to follow the same trail back that you came in on, remember that what goes down must come up.  As in...those descents you're flying right through as you make your way down to the creek must be conquered again on the way back.  And the descents become inclines, which may or may not lead to some strategic pauses along the way to catch one's breath.  Just sayin'.
   
   
   
2. 
   
   If in the middle of one's hike one happens to cross an actual paved road, it's probably in one's best interest to remember just exactly where it is one crossed said road in order to make one's way back to one's car without wondering where the hell one's trail went.  If you do find that trail, though, give yourself a big thumbs up.
   
   
   

After spending a few hours there, I'm looking forward to going back and exploring a bit more - there's a planetarium and snazzy bridges and miles of hiking trails and a peaceful gurgling creek and Civil War ruins and all kinds of cool stuff to check out. 

Side note - the theory here is that you can click on the pictures and they'll turn into ginormous pictures where you can see more detail and appreciate them in a slightly larger format.  Which is where this whole Nikon D5000 business comes into play when I like to do things like focus on a leaf and have this whole blurry background thing happen.  Coolness.

If you'd like a fall foliage extravaganza, hop on over here.  Warning - excessive, excessive amount of pictures.  Must develop a greater ability to self edit.